Supernatural Chat: In Defense of Sam Winchester

Hey there, Supernatural fans! I hope everyone is enjoying season 8 so far. I know I am. With plot lines like the addition of Benny, and Crowley made into this year’s Big Bad, it’s definitely been a great season up to this point in my opinion.

If I had one gripe – well, truthfully it’s not even really a gripe, more of a confusion – it would be with Sam. In the premiere this season, we found him living a new life, no longer hunting or even searching for his brother. In fact, there have been more than a few moments in season 8 where I felt like I didn’t know who Sam was.

Okay so I know many of you are saying to yourselves, “Why did you say you were defending Sam in the article title but start out trashing him?” Have no fear, the defense is coming. It was because of all of the thoughts above that I decided to maybe try playing devil’s advocate (or in this case, Sam’s advocate) and take a look at things from his side. Once I did that, I could start to maybe see why he has done the things that he has.

1. He thought Dean and Cas were dead

Sam didn’t just wake up one morning and say “Screw this, I’m going to abandon my brother and go find a cute girl to live with.” Before that happened, he was in the biggest battle of his life (which is saying something when you consider the kind of wars that Sam and Dean have fought). Sam did his part to help defeat the Leviathans and when that happened, he watched his brother and Castiel disappear. Sam was told by Crowley that the two of them were gone and that he was “truly alone.”

After all that he had been through at that point, I can’t say that I completely blame him for giving up the life of a hunter and moving on. The last time Dean had been sent to another dimension, it was Castiel and the angels who rescued him. Without that help this time, what hope did Sam have of getting his brother back home? Plus, Sam didn’t even know that’s where Dean was. I mean when you think about it, it’s a wonder Sam didn’t just put a gun to his head and get it over with. At that point he probably felt like he had nothing left to live for and yet he found a way to move on.

2. He never really wanted to be a hunter

No one can truly say that Sam’s behavior is completely out of left field when you think about the fact that he never wanted to be a hunter in the first place. All the way back to the pilot we’ve known that Sam Winchester was a guy who didn’t want to be on the road with his father and brother hunting scary things. He wanted to live a normal life with a real house, friends, and a woman to love and create a new family with.

Of course I realize that all of that changed when Dean came back into Sam’s life. That set off a chain of events that turned Sam’s life upside down, to the point where he really was a different person – a person who did want to hunt side by side with his brother. But when all of that was taken away, every reason he had for hunting gone, is it actually a surprise that he would go back to his original dream? Honestly, I don’t think so.

3. He didn’t quit easily

Though it originally looked like Sam immediately went running for a non-hunting life without his brother, the more we’ve seen of his time with Amelia, the more we see that’s not necessarily true. Running over a dog sort of proves that he wasn’t in his right mind right after he lost Dean. Plus, we’ve seen him and Amelia talking about how messed up and broken they were when they arrived at the motel.

Sam felt the loss of his brother deeply, of that I have no doubt. So even if it sometimes looks like he dove into his new life easily, I’m not buying it. It may have only been for a few days or a few weeks, but I still think Sam struggled with that decision. I also think that it was the only way he could find to survive. Continuing to be a hunter would have been agony for him, with all of the constant reminders of everyone that he had lost.

So there, now I’ve played Sam’s advocate and tried very hard to look at things from his point of view. Does this mean that I’ll never find fault with his actions again? No, of course not, but it did help me to understand him a little better.

What about you folks? What do you think of Sam in this season of Supernatural, and his decision to leave hunting and not search for Dean? Do you kind of understand why he would have done that or are you convinced that what he did was completely wrong?

About The Author

Michelle is a freelance writer, editor and blogger who is a self-proclaimed geek and fangirl. She has always loved tv, especially action driven dramas and sci-fi.
It all started when she was a little girl with shows like Tales From The Gold Monkey and the original Battlestar Galactica. She and her friends used to act out their favorite episodes using lawn furniture and stuffed animals as props.
These days she still loves action driven dramas and sci-fi, with a little bit of comedy and horror thrown in the mix as well.

For me, I feel like I understand who flashback!Sam is, but there’s still these gaps in my understand of how Sam went from 7×23!Sam to flashback!Sam, and how flashback!Sam got to being S8!Sam. Because flashback!Sam hasn’t helped me understand S8!Sam’s attitude at all, and actually (IMO) has been acting contradictory to that guy who was so distraught (or so they’ve told us) over having lost Dean. Right now I’m kind of at soulless!Sam levels of confusion over who this new Sam is, and I hope they don’t leave us hanging on much longer answering what’s going on with him or I fear the damage to his character might be irreparable. :/

Christine

I think in one of the motel scenes with Amelia, Sam said that he had lost Dean either a “couple” or a “few” months before. Hopefully the show does some exploration of that lost time. There are certainly a multitude of theories out there and there may be some truth to some of them, but right now I’m assuming losing Dean, Cas and Bobby’s ghost all in the last battle(episode) may have just broken him. He is supposed to be human afterall.
I am loving Season 8 and I quite like the Amelia character. I’m hoping to see more of her in upcoming episodes.

Ana

I’ve always seen Sam’s point of view and understand him, The thing I don’t understand is the people who doesn’t. All you said is true. Even now he’s hunting with Dean, he does because he’s his brother, it’s the one reason but he doesn’t like it. He already said he wants to quit. But his brother and a lot of people don’t see it

Louise

In my view, Sam’s only looking for Kevin because he’s been shamed into it- if Dean hadn’t come back, Kevin would still be running and hiding on his own.

Time After Time is the perfect parallel to what’s happeing now and yet in that episode Sam didn’t quit, it just looks like he finally decided Dean wasn’t worth the effort.

Amal Al-Saffar

He DECIDED Dean was not worth saving?!! WOW! In that case, both you and Sam need an endless line of advocates. If either of the brothers doesn’t realize the worthiness of the other might as well end the show while it’s still got some dignity! based on your comment of course

That’s ONE reason. Sam is also back hunting because of the tablet. He wants the Gates of Hell closed before returning back to his ‘normal life’ he’s made for himself. It’s not DEAN making him hunt again, it’s SAM. Dean hasn’t been making it easy for him that’s true but he hasn’t been locking him down either. What Sam wants to do is up to SAM.

Marty

That’s the thing that doesn’t make any sense. Dean is not the only reason why Sam hunts – in fact, that has never been true. In first season, it was just for revenge, but since season 2, Sam seemed to have fully accepted his role and identity as a hunter and chose to hunt even when he could’ve easily walked away. He hasn’t wanted a normal life for six seasons now – not even when Dean was living one – so why did he suddenly change his mind?

Jessica Breaux

I don’t think that’s necessarily true. There hasn’t really been a time when Sam could “easily walk away” from hunting. Sam definitely didn’t want the hunting life in S1. But in S2, he hadn’t really accepted the hunting life so much as he felt guilty about fighting with John just before he died so he kept hunting out of guilt and obligation. Also, S2 was about Sam realizing he was one of the “special children” and trying to find out exactly what that meant. S3 Sam kept hunting because he was trying to figure out a way to get Dean out of his deal. S4 Sam kept hunting so he could find Lilith and avenge Dean’s death. S5 Sam kept hunting in an effort to redeem himself after starting the Apocalypse. S6 Sam was soulless most of the time, so I don’t really count that. But even at the end, he said he only kept hunting so that Dean wouldn’t be left out there alone. S7 Sam kept hunting so that he wouldn’t be abandoning Dean. I don’t think it’s that Sam gave up on wanting a normal life. It was just something he decided that he couldn’t have, so he gave up trying for it. But he still wanted it. And now that he’s actually experienced it and knows that it’s something he can actually do, it’s not just an unattainable dream for him anymore. It’s something he’s had and something he wants to have again.

Beth

I can understand parts of Sam’s motivation this season and in the year prior, but I’m still baffled. I can accept that he thought Dean was dead and so didn’t look for him – but not that he just abandoned Kevin. I can understand his anger over Dean’s secrecy and the Amy Pond-related accusations of hypocrisy, but his decision to hunt Benny – and the particularly pissy attitude with which he announced it – is contrary to 7 seasons of character development in which his willingness to give even monsters a chance to prove themselves was both one of his best traits and the one most likely to get him into trouble. I keep waiting for more information to fill in the gaps, but so far it has not been forthcoming – and the absence is rather at odds with the overall success of the other character arcs so far.

Dean has died for Sam more than once yet Sam has always tried to get him back. Like Dean said, they’ve always ignored each other when one of them specifically orders them not to try and save them.

http://twitter.com/shadowhund SammySasquatch

See, I think Sam shouldn’t need any kind of advocates!!! After all he went through, took on and took over, putting Lucifer back into the cage, knowing that he would endure the worst torture for eternity, putting splintered pieces together for Dean ….THE STORY of Sam should be his advocate. I think it should have been shown from this season premiere where Sam’s mind and heart was. Instead we got his side told like he would be the last who really tried to find Dean and lived happily ever after!

It shouldn’t be that we as fans who love the character get those different story splinters and have to put them together and fill the (big) gaps. Because I don’t know where Jeremy Carver is going with it, wth Sam. I suspect things and wait for some ..more than..clues and the season goes on and on and what is shown about Sam is to little, way to little.

I don’t want to solve a puzzle regarding Sam especially if there is a new showrunner who maybe decided to give us a different version Sam and not including his whole personal journey till now. I just don’t know but I know what I would have expected.

The words “I am not leaving my brothers alone out there” coming to mind, and that’s a statement from EK himself his last written episode of SPN, also a legat to Sam’s character. I should be sure and I should know how Sam acted and in what kind of mental or psychic state Sam was in that lab where Roman was killed and Dean vanished.

IMO it wasn’t neccessary to not include Sam’s part of the story…or … if…JC did… (showing that this is indeed all to Sam’s part) then he destroyed an incredibly great character!

That’s all I have to say ….

Mrs. Peele

Since I didn’t see my comment post, I will try again. I have to disagree with Sam’s reason for not looking for Dean. Did we all forget ‘Time After Time’ S.6? Sam saw Dean engulfed in a blinding red light and then gone. He had no clue what happened. Sam was totally alone back then just as he was now. But did he give up? No, he went back to the house and tried to find out information like he and Dean always did. Sheriff Mills happened to call him and with HER assistance they found out WHEN he was and that the God of Time had taken him there. Of course, he had no idea if Dean was still alive but they found out more info and were able to retrieve him. So Sam’s explanation of why he didn’t look for Dean is flawed. And not just because he didn’t ‘have a road map’. God, even I figured out that Dean and Cas were pulled into Purgatory – that should have been the FIRST thing Sam though of . Also I do not like like Amelia. From the beginning she has done nothing but be harsh and mean to Sam. He hit a dog and brought him in to her hospital for help. She could see what kind of a state he was in but proceeded to accuse him of being a horrible person for hitting the dog in the first place w/o even knowing what happened. Nowadays, you are lucky someone would even bring in a stray dog they accidentally hit and not leave it there. They way she belittled him in front of her employee showed quite a lack of self respect and certainly no compassion or business ethics – not to mention how miserable she made Sam fee. I’m surprised she has any clients with that attitude. And for her to be his love interest is beyond me! I can’t see him even wanting to touch her. This season has been slightly off especially with Sam so I’m hoping a much different reason is found for Sam not acting the way Sam would.

Jessica Breaux

I agree with you about Amelia. I’ve been trying to warm up to her, but I just can’t for many of the reasons you said. But as far as your comparison of Sam not looking for Dean vs. Sam looking for Dean in ‘Time After Time’ I disagree. The primary difference between Time After Time and There Will Be Blood is that in Time After Time, Sam had leads. He and Dean had been working the case for a few days, so he at least had somewhere to start. And even though you’re right that Sheriff Mills called him, the fact remains he still could’ve called her for help on that one. She is, after all, the one that brought the case to them. However, who could he call after Dean and Cas disappeared? Sheriff Mills certainly couldn’t help. Crowley most definitely wasn’t going to help. Sam had no one to call. No one.

And as far as figuring out Dean and Cas went to Purgatory, I don’t think that’s a leap that Sam would’ve necessarily been able to make. First of all, he had no reason to believe that non-monsters could even end up in Purgatory. Since Dean has a soul, he’s supposed to either go to Heaven or to Hell. Second of all, Sam wasn’t thinking straight. Even though Sam never wanted the hunting life, he loves Dean. And Dean has always been the rock that Sam leaned on (whether he admits it or not). When Dean disappeared, the only constant is Sam’s life disappeared and the earth shifted out from under his feet. His world really did implode. Add to that the fact that he’s just coming off a mental breakdown and I can totally see Sam not being in the right headspace to consider the possibly of his brother being in Purgatory. Finally, even if Sam were to figure out that Dean and Cas were in Purgatory, how was he supposed to get them out? You remember what happened when Cas opened the door to Purgatory.

Mrs. Peele

I know it’s an odd circumstances in this case, but Sam could have called Jody for it nothing else but morale support. I think Sam was heading for a breakdown and maybe he had one. We don’t know. They told us perception plays a big role this year. I know that they had leads in ‘Time’ episode but still he was dealing with a god of time and when and where Dean might have gone. When I watched that episode, a lot of what happened was luck, One option in this case: Dean ‘died’ to ask Death about retrieving Sam’s soul. Maybe I’m wrong, but Sam could have done the same thing to at least ask Death if Dean were dead. Death knows everything and perhaps he also could pull Dean out of Purgatory w/o releasing all the creatures. He gave them the means to open a portal to suck all the monsters back in, but in this case, it would be just to get one human out. He went into Lucifer’s cage in several seconds to retrieve Sam’s soul surely he could do something in Purgatory? Besides, Death likes Dean.

In Supernatural we learn to expect the unexpected…Sam could have thought Dean and Cas had died in the blinding light or with the pulsating waves, that they were dragged in. An assumption anyone could make and Sam could have considered whether or not there was a way of getting them out. He still could have thought it.

Sam was clearly ‘hyperventilating’ in
response to the aftermath of it all. The lives of the Winchesters have been
nothing but horror and death, and it didn’t get much better when Castiel joined
Team Free Will. He has given an explanation as to why he didn’t look for Dean,
and I understand where he is coming from but to NOT look for his own flesh and
blood. Sam didn’t know where Dean and Castiel were- I would have thought
Purgatory would have come to mind- but did he bother to find out for sure? Did
he look in Bobby’s diary or all that stuff Jodi brought him when Sam was trying
to get Dean back to the present, contact Missouri, call angels to TRY? Sam didn’t
say he did.

Sam returned to hunting because he had
vengeance on the mind; once Azazel was dead he was going to return to college
but then events unfolded and his views changed. But, there was some semblance of
normality: FAMILY. Over time everyone either lost or sacrificed their lives.
Then the point came where nobody was left. What direction was Sam to go in?
With everyone gone his mind was probably all over the place with questions
about his future. Normality is something he can relate to, in theory it was
easier.

Sam told Amelia that when he lost Dean
his whole world came crashing south, that he just RAN. I can understand that
too but what about Kevin? Yeah there are other hunters but SAM is the one who
helped him from the start. The King of Hell’s priority is to get the prophet to
translate the ‘Word of God’ and Sam just ignored that? Thought he’d what, be
fine? If he had not ditched the phones Kevin would have had someone who could
rely on for support. THAT is NOT Sam, and THAT is NOT fair let alone
professional.

GINGER

With all that Sam has been through, he should be stronger for it. He has lost Dean before, he knows it was possible that he was not dead. Why- because Crowley said he was gone? Crowley? Really? It would drive me crazy just not knowing for sure. How many times have they had to save each other? Why was this time different? What doesn’t kill you should make you stronger. I am sorry but, all these excuses for Sam’s behavior is just because we are all mad the writers made Sam look like he could care less about his brother. They destroyed the Sam we all love. So we compensate by trying to find reasons for his bad behavior. We need to see that he cares- not wonder about it or justify our own conclusions. So far, what I see, is Sam acting like an asshat. SHOW ME something better!

ginger

If everything was so right with Sam – why does he need defending at all?
There would be no controversy.

Marty

There are problems with all three of the defenses.

1.”He thought Dean and Cas were dead” – And what exactly gave him that idea? There was no dead body or blood around. No indication in the word of god that that would be a side-effect. Sam only had Crowley’s word for it and given the history of demons lying, trusting him wouldn’t be my first choice. For all he knew, Crowley could have been the one to whisk them away. Dean had disappeared like this before – with fairies, with Chronos, with angels. Sam didn’t just assume he was dead all those times, so why did he this time? I’d understand if Sam had found out from some reliable source that Dean died and assumed he was in heaven and finally decided to let his brother be free form their pain-filled existence – but that’s not the story being told here.

2.”He never really wanted to be a hunter” – Not since season 2. Ever since John died Sam has been committed to hunting. His flashbacks of his youth when he wanted a normal life are shown more as nostalgia about how naive he used to be. Sam didn’t give up hunting when Dean went to hell. Even when it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to bring him back, Sam chose to go for revenge against Lillith than quitting. When Dean was the one living normal life, Sam still went on being a hunter. And since he didn’t have a soul, he wouldn’t have been bound by any moral obligations like “helping people” or “saving innocents”. He chose to hunt when there was nothing – not his brother, nor his destiny – to bind him to it. Which means, he really did want to be a hunter.

3. “He didn’t quit easily” – No according to Sam. Whenever he may have decided to settle down, he did quit looking for his brother and he did quit hunting pretty much immediately. In his own words, he just “ran”. He may have been wandering aimlessly from town to town for a month or two (though that seems unlikely, given how quickly Kevin seems to have escaped), before he hit the dog and decided to make an extended stay, but the fact remains that he was wandering about rather than looking for his brother.

Atleast, this is the only thing being implied so far. I’d love to be proven wrong on first and third point by some pre-Amelia flashbacks. Frankly, I’m getting a bit bored of the sappy, normal life flashbacks. We get it – Sam was happy and would once again like to have that one day. What I’d like to see are is days immediately after Dean disappeared and before he hit the blasted dog.

My personal theory (or rather hope) is that Sam did look for Dean – maybe contacted psychics or tried to summon angels or demons or reapers – and somehow got convinced that he could’ve saved Dean and failed. This would tie up nicely with his attitude when he rushed into the vet clinic (“It’s all my fault”? – it did seem like he was talking about more than just the dog). And now he believes that he didn’t look hard enough, gave up too easily and thus feels guilty and that’s why he’s letting Dean believe that he didn’t even try to look for him. Because in his mind, he might as well not have.

Jo1027

I’m sorry, but we shouldn’t even be having to defend Sam. The writers have pushed him into the background and made him unrecognizable. I don’t think they know who Sam is and so they don’t write for him with any understanding of the character..
My fear is that we will never get any more story for Sam than we’ve already gotten so I’m not getting my hopes up.

jkingslp

This is great! I have thought all of these things from the get-go and totally understand his actions/thinking. I am really sick of all of the griping about this and wish it would stop. It is not OOC at all in my opinion. Thanks!

Karen Graham

A few people have mentioned the ‘Time after time’ episode where Sam looked for Dean, but there’s a big difference. They already had a major lead in that case before Dean disappeared. They knew the name of the man and where he lived and Sam was able to do further research and figure out that they were dealing with Chronos.

When Dean & Castiel disappeared in the final episode Sam had no idea where they had gone and it’s easy for us to say ‘he should’ve thought of purgatory’ because we saw where Dean & Castiel were a few seconds after they disappeared. Would we have been so confident if the season had ended without showing us that final scene? There is no precedent for a human (or an angel) to go to purgatory in the SPN lore – purgatory is for monsters – so why would Sam think Dean or Castiel had gone there?

And even if purgatory had crossed Sam’s mind, what could he have done about it? It took Crowley and Castiel a year to figure out how to get the souls out of purgatory and at what cost? Do you think that Sam would’ve risked letting out all the monsters in purgatory on the off-chance that Dean MIGHT be there?

I believe it took every ounce of Sam’s energy for him to keep going after the Lucifer visions almost killed him (in the mental hospital episode) – Castiel may have taken away the hallucinations, but Sam still has all the memories of his time in the cage with Lucifer. On top of this he had to deal with Bobby’s ghost and say goodbye to him again, before Dean & Castiel disappeared. It’s not unrealistic at this point to think that Sam might have ‘imploded’ and not been able to cope. Perhaps he shut down completely, forgetting about Kevin because he was just trying to figure out what to do. In his words ‘I didn’t have a road map’.

I don’t think Sam needs to be defended at all. I think he is a hero that reached breaking point! And now that Dean’s back, Sam is right there beside him. Obviously, there’s some tension, but they have a history of this, so it’s not all that unusual. I also think more will be revealed as the season goes on and I, for one, am happy to trust the writers and go along for the ride. I’m loving season 8.

Jessica Breaux

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Mrs. Peele

I
know it’s an odd circumstances in this case, but Sam could have called
Jody for it nothing else but morale support. I think Sam was heading
for a breakdown and maybe he had one. We don’t know. They told us
perception plays a big role this year. I know that they had leads in
‘Time’ episode but still he was dealing with a god of time and when and
where Dean might have gone. And again, if he was still alive. When I watched that episode, I realized a lot of what happened depended upon luck, if the young woman was still alive to give them the time they needed but that was only if Sam happened to find the letter Dean hid for him. Sam might not have been concerned with sleeping on the floor with Dean missing.

One option in this case: Dean ‘died’ to ask Death about retrieving Sam’s soul. Maybe I’m wrong, but Sam could have done the same thing to at least ask Death if Dean were dead. Death knows everything and perhaps he also could pull Dean out of Purgatory w/o releasing all the creatures. He gave them the means to open a portal to suck all the monsters back in, he caused an eclipse! But in this case, it would be just to get one human out. He went into Lucifer’s cage in several seconds to retrieve Sam’s soul surely he could do something in Purgatory? Besides,Death likes Dean.

In Supernatural we learn to expect the unexpected…Sam could have
thought Dean and Cas had died in the blinding light or with the
pulsating waves, that they were dragged in. An assumption anyone could
make and Sam could have considered whether or not there was a way of
getting them out. He still could have thought it.

Karen Graham

You make some good points, particularly about going to Death for help, but I really think that by this time Sam had endured too much loss and he suffered a mental breakdown.

Interestingly, after the latest episode, there is a ton of speculation going on that Sam did have a breakdown and that his relationship with Amelia is imagined – he has created her and a ‘happy’ life as a way to deal with his grief.

Either way, I’m happy to go along for the roller-coaster ride that is Supernatural… and I trust in Jeremy Carver and the writers.

Jessica Breaux

I can totally understand where Sam was coming from and I haven’t had a problem with his explanation to Dean. He had no reason at all to believe that Dean had gone to Purgatory, so it makes sense he didn’t look there for him. I mean, everything they know about Purgatory says that only monsters go there, so why would he think Dean was there? But even more than that, Sam is a runner. He’s always been a runner. When things get too much for him, he runs. The difference in the past, though, is that Dean has been there to ground Sam and to be a support for him. Sam’s world had spun out of control and the one centering force in his life, Dean, wasn’t there to stop Sam from free falling. So, Sam did what he always does. He ran. Also, Sam was in no frame of mind to continue hunting. He had lost everyone and everything. Additionally, he was just coming off a mental breakdown. If he had tried to continue hunting in that state of mind, he wouldn’t have lasted very long. Although I would like to know more about what happened between the time Sam lost Dean and the time he found solid footing again, I’m willing to be patient. I’m liking S8 so far, and I have faith Jeremy Carver and Co. will reveal everything in due time.

The only thing I don’t understand about Sam is why he is so gung-ho to kill Benny. That, to me, goes more against Sam’s character than anything else. Sam has always been the one to give monsters a chance to not be evil, but now he’s not? That doesn’t make any sense. Maybe he’s a little gunshy because of his experience with Ruby (which is totally understandable) but it still doesn’t seem like the same Sam that was defending Amy last season. Especially when there was solid proof that Amy was actually killing people while there hasn’t been any proof whatsoever that Benny has hurt anyone.

Jessie Drake-Winchester

I completely agree with you. I have been saying the same things to other all this season. I told everyone to have patience and we will see why he did what he did. Obviously I was correct *wink*
We all have to remember it wasn’t long before that Sam had a break down. And with all that happened, we don’t know what state of mind he was in. I’m sure the writers will reveal more as the season goes on and then it will all make sense.

http://www.facebook.com/Tawrens Karen Kaiser

You mean excuses as to why Sam didn’t search for at least Kevin and Meg if not Dean/Cas. Why is everyone just not accepting Sam screwed up. All I hear is, “Oh it’s not Sam’s cause…” Dean tried to find Sam when he got Megged and sent to Cold Oak. Despite promising Sam he wouldn’t Dean didn’t completely retired as he continued to search for a way to free Sam from Lucifer’s toybox. Dean sold his soul for Sam yet Sam codemns Dean’s choices. Says he gave Dean benefit of doubt by letting him talk to Benny yet when Dean comes back within the time limit to tell him Sam dismisses him. What was the point in letting him go if Sam just dismisses it? Sam’s actions caused pain! Martin is dead because Sam sicced him on Benny. Elizabeth is traumatized because Sam let Martin know about Benny and then just left Martin there unsupervised despite Martin showing violent unstable behavior that obviously concerned Sam but not enough to not leave Dean unconscious and cuffed to a radiator. Thankfully he woke and freed himself before Desmond trackjed him down. Benny dealing with temptation and trying to be good but because of Sam’s actions he’s in the wind and may of actually become the monster Sam has claimed him to be as a result of Sam’s actions.